Bankarai Krishna's Trick

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Late afternoon class, Sri Nrisingha Palli
4 March 2020, part 2, translated from Bengali

We will talk about the fifth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam today, I will tell you something about it. Please listen carefully—do not let your mind wander, otherwise you will not hear anything. Concentrate your mind, your being on your heart. I will tell you today about Dhruva Maharaj and karma-misra bhakti. Listen to it attentively because if you read about these things on your own in a book, you will not get it—you must listen to these things from the mouth of your Guru and Vaishnavs. I have heard it from them, after that I grasped it in my heart, and now I am trying to tell it to you. It will do you good.

It is said in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita (2.22.38)

কৃষ্ণ কহে,—আমা ভজে, মাগে বিষয়-সুখ ।
অমৃত ছাড়ি’ বিষ মাগে,—এই বড় মূর্খ ॥

krsna kahe,—ama bhaje, mage visaya-sukha
amrta chhadi' visa mage,—ei bada murkha

"Krishna says, 'They worship Me, desiring material happiness—leaving aside nectar, they ask for poison. They are great fools.'"

The Lord says, "I know everything, I am not a fool—why will I give them material things?" They leave nectar and ask the Lord for poison—they worship the Lord and ask for material happiness, "How will I live well?", "How will I eat well?", "How will I dress well?", "How will I spend my life?", "How will my children live?", after that, "How will my grandchildren live?" People think about all these things, but The Lord says, "Why will I give them material things? I will not give it to them. I will give them My feet and make them forget all about material things." On the other hand, it is also said in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita (1.8.18)—Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami is referring to Mahaprabhu's words there,

কৃষ্ণ যদি ছুটে ভক্তে ভুক্তি মুক্তি দিয়া ।
কভু ভক্তি না দেন রাখেন লুকাইয়া ॥

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya
kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

"If you ask Krishna for anything except devotion, He can give you those things—bhukti, mukti, liberation, and so on—but He will hide devotion from you. You will not get devotion."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.18)

When you want enjoyment or liberation instead of devotion, the Lord will give you your enjoyment and liberation and make you forget Him—He will not give you devotion.

So, on the one hand, the Lord says He will not give you material things, and on the other hand, He says that He will give you material things. How can that be? I have got the solution in Srimad Bhagavatam. You may have heard about Dhruva Maharaj. If you have not, listen carefully.

Desiring to get his father's throne, Dhruva Maharaj went to the forest and stayed there meditating for five years. Krishna was satisfied with his meditation, but He did not come to him at first Himself—He sent His close associate, Narad Goswami. Narad Muni came to Dhruva Maharaj, gave him initiation and instructed him how to practise. Dhruva Maharaj started practising in the way that Narad Muni had told him to. This time, becoming happy with his practising life, Krishna Himself came to Dhruva Maharaj. Krishna decided to test him. He said, "Here, Dhruva Maharaj, take your throne!" Dhruva Maharaj said then, "Prabhu, please do not embarrass me. I have made a mistake—leaving aside nectar, I have come to You to ask for poison, but now that I have got You, now that You have come in front of me, I do not need any throne now."

[His Divine Grace is distracted:]

Many of you do not know it, but sometimes when I am passing some villages in the car and see that water is flowing, I stop the car, get out and go to close the tap. This is a waste of water. You do not know it now, but what will be the situation in twenty-fifty years? There will be no more water left in earth, nobody will get water then. Even now there is scarcity of water in many countries and regions. It has already started in Purulia (West Bengal). If you waste water now, there will be no more water left one day. I have seen it many times since I came to the temple—many use the tap in the bathroom and go away leaving it open. Here too, when devotees take prasadam, they go to wash their hands, open the tap, and, having washed their hands, they go away leaving it open. They are not habituated to close taps—many use tube wells, take bath in a pond, etc. that is why they are not used to closing taps. You must remember what is necessary to do. Some leave the taps open and go for parikrama and water falls all day long. Be careful, do not leave taps open, otherwise nobody will get water, everybody will suffer.

Anyhow, I was talking about Bhagavatam. Another thing is that when the Kuruksetra war finished, the Pandavas got back their kingdom. Krishna is known as Bankarai, it means He is very crafty—"banka" (বাঁকা) means crooked, so whenever something goes one way, Krishna always finds a clever way around it. So, when the war was over, Krishna told Kunti Devi, "Aunt, your sons have won the war and got the kingdom, got the throne, what is the need for Me to stay here now? I am leaving for Dvaraka, there is no need for Me to be here any more." But Kunti Devi understood His cleverness. She thought, "Krishna is testing me—He wants to see if we will forget Him or not once we become happy."

Many people are like this—when we become happy, we forget the Lord. When we are sick, when some relative dies, then we cry, "O Lord! What offence have I made? What have I done? What is my fault? Why am I suffering so much?" And at other times, we do not think about the Lord, we think it is not necessary to think about Him—I have my son, my wife, my friend, my husband, etc., I have everything, why will I think about the Lord?

So, Krishna tested Kunti Devi, "When her sons get back the kingdom, what will their mood be like?" That is why He said to her, "Your sons have got their kingdom, My job is finished. I am going to leave." Kunti Devi then spoke many things, I am telling you the gist of what she said. She said, "Prabhu, we can get the kingdom, we can get anything in this world, my sons can be happy and satisfied, but what will I do with this throne? If you leave, this throne is empty for me—if you leave, what is the use to have this throne? But if you are here, then I do not need any throne, I can happily stay even in a jungle." This is what she said in reply.

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

• Listen online (Bengali):

• Download (3.5 Mb)